River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-10-27
\ vI.itto Tennyson.


! saw The poet TO the best advanta re,
ander bis own trees anil walking over
ais own domain. lie took delight in
pointing ont 60 me the finest and the
rarest of his trees,-and there were
many beauties among thcnL / recalled
my mornings visit to Whittier Oak
Knoll. in Danvers. little more than a
year ago. when he led me to one Of his
fayorites, an aspiring evergreen which
shot up like a flame. I thought of the
graceful American elms in front of
tOngfeI1w's house, and the sturdy
English elms that stand in front Of
Lowoll's. In this garden of England,
the Isle Of Wight. where everything
grows with such lavish eNtravaganees
Of greenness that it seems rs if it must
bankrupt the soil before autumn. felt
as IL weary ewes and overtasked brains
might reach their happiest haven of
rest. We all remember SEcnstone's
epigram on the pane of tavern win
dow. If we find our "warmest well
come at an inn" we find our most
soothing compauionship in the trees
among which we have lived, some of
which we may ourselves have planted.
We lean against them, and they never
betray our trust; they shield US from
the sun and from the rain; their spring
welcome is new birth, which never
loses its freshness; they leave their
be utiful robes nj our feet in autumn;
in winter they "stand and wait" en-
blems of patience and truth, for Trey
hide nothing. not even the little leaf
buds which hint 10 us of hope, tho last
element in their triple symbolism.
This DEPRESSION suggested by the re-
mcmbrance of the poet under his trees,
breaks my narrative, but gives me the
opportunity of paying a debt of graft
tudc. For have owned many beauti-
ful trees, and Lowell many more out
side of my own lvaiy harem. Those
who write verses have no special claim
to be lovers Of trees but 50 far as one
is of the poetical temperament he is
like to be y tree-lOyer. Poets have
as a rule, more than the average ner-
vous sensibility aud irritability. Trees
have no nerves. They live and die
without suffering without self-question-
ing of self-reproach. They have the
divine gift OF silence. They cannot
obtrude upon the solitary moments
when one is to himself the most agreea-
bile ofcompanions. The whole vegeta-
bic world, even ''the mcanest flower
that blows IS lovely 10 contemplate.
What If creation had paused there, and
yOu or had been called upon to de-
eide whether self-conscious life should
bo added in tho form of the existing
animal creation, and the hitherto peace
FIJI universe should come under the rule
of Nature rs we now know her,
''red n tooth and ciaw"l
Are we not glad that the responsibility
Of the decision did not rest on lis?
am sorry that did not ask Tenny-
son TO read On repeat some of his own
lines 70 me. Hardly any one perfectly
understands poem but the poet
himself One naturally loves his
own poem as no one else
can. II fits the mental mould in
which il was cast, and il will not exact
ly IL any other. For this reason had
rather listen 70 poet reading his own
verses than hear the best cloeniionist
that ever spoufod re'itc them. He
may not haze a good voice or enuncia-
ton, but he pats his heart and his
inter-pcuctrative Intelligence into every
line. word, and syllable. J should have
liked 70 hear Teuny5on read such lines
as
"Laborious orient ivory, sphere in sphere;'
and in spite Of my good friend Mat
thew Arnold's IN ;oyForcB. | should
have liked TO hear Macaltruy read,
"And Aulrs the Dictato..
SmoGthed Austsr's raven mare,'
and other good moathahlc lines from
the Lays OF ancient Rome" Not less
should I ike tohear Mr.. Arnold himself
read the passage beginning
sin his cool hall with hagglrd eyes
The Roman noble lay
Oliver Wendell Holmes, in Atlanta